A San Francisco mother chronicles her reluctant obsession with making dinner for her family.
Glue guns and sippy cups required.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Reunion

This past summer I attended two reunions, one for my 20th high school reunion and one for an extended family reunion in Milwaukee. Both were awkward and a little odd at a first, with "What's your name?" being the number one uttered phrase at each event.

The High School Reunion

Let's go back a few years and look at where I left my classmates in 1991. I had long, henna red hair with a roll of bangs on my forehead, wore Doc Martens and sported a mouthful of braces for the past seven (seven!!!!) years. Needless to say I was a dork and I only amplified this designation by dressing up as my high school mascot every week at football games and spirit rallies. I figured since I liked to dance and preferred to be behind the scenes, then doing it in a hideous costume was a great way to not be noticed *too much*. What was I thinking?

Me in the Willie the Wildcat costume, 1990

But a lot has changed in twenty years, folks. I got the braces off, managed to get my hair back to its somewhat blonde state, gained a sweet spouse, a nice job and two lovely children. I feel really lucky in life. But the notion of going to my high school reunion threw me right back into that state of insecurity and self doubt, I was positive no one would speak to me. I figured I'd hide behind a different kind of costume, one that would take attention away from me as a person. So I made a pie. But not just any pie, because that is boring. I made a blueberry SLAB pie, one that can serve about 18 people and whose presentation alone makes folks ooh and ahh. Much like my mascot costume. ;)

And this pie would have been epic had another classmate not plopped a huge pink box of frosted cupcakes and cookies from the best bakery in town right next to my pretty pie. Oh well. I had an absolute blast at my reunion picnic, enjoyed seeing everyone's families and children and ate enough pie to float a boat.